MVB

Born in December 1782 in Kinderhook, New York, Martin Van Buren held a number of important political positions, including the U.S. presidency. Prior to succeeding Andrew Jackson as chief executive, Van Buren served as U.S. senator (1821-28), New York governor (1829), U.S. secretary of state (1829-31), U.S. minister to the United Kingdom (1831-32), and U.S. vice president (1833-37).

Documents

Immediately on the receipt of yours I sent the enclosed to Mr Barbour. If it is of service I will be most gratified. Will not the fact that Col. Wool is from Nyork operate agt. you. Let me know what may be said on that subject.
Tell <Abrm> to write me

Mr. VAN BUREN submitted the following motion for consideration:
“Resolved, That Congress does not possess the power to make Roads and Canals within the respective States.
“Resolved, That a select committee be appointed, with instructions to prepare and report a Joint Resolution, for an amendment of the Constitution, prescribing and defining the power Congress shall have over the subject of... Continue Reading

Agreeably to notice, Mr. VAN BUREN asked, and having obtained leave, introduced a bill “to alter the time of holding the District Court, in the Northern District of the State of New York;” which was read, and passed to a second reading.

I wish you & your family not forgetting my <dearest> heart Miss Margaret a very merry Christmass. <unclear word> the day is dark & raining & except the promise of some pleasure at dinner with Mr & Mrs. McLane <unclear word> & every thing <else> appears to be out of sorts. Nothing has transpired of much interest in the political world. The Jackson men... Continue Reading

I wish you and Ms Dudley a Merry Christmass. If there was any thing of interest here to communicate I would write it, but there is not. People as yet keep themselves, to themselves, and watch the movements of the water. The elements of a determined & ultimately furious opposition are on the spot & wait only for opportunity to be put in motion. If Mr Adams had been here enough to have... Continue Reading

I am sorry for the omission but there was enough <unclear word> <unclear word> ^to^ move without it. I did not receive your note until it was too late or I should have been with you. I have two accusations to make agt. you the one for neglecting to send me the corrected copy of the Speech & the other for taking the shine off of mine yesterday by making one forty times better... Continue Reading

The Senate then proceeded, as in committee of the whole, to consider the bill to alter the time of holding the District Court in the Northern District of the State of New York. Mr. VAN BUREN briefly explained the object and grounds of the bill; after which, it was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

On the question of agreeing to this amendment, Mr. VAN BUREN rose, and addressed the Senate as follows:
In noticing the proposed amendments, I shall give my own views, and, as far as I understand them, the views of the majority of the committee, in relation to the bill under consideration. The ample discussion which the subject has so recently undergone elsewhere, and which, though not heard... Continue Reading

Various other amendments, of inferior importance, were offered to the details of the bill, some of which succeeded, and others were lost—in the proposition or discussion of which Messrs. COBB, MILLS, VAN BUREN, BROWN of Ohio, and JOHNSON of Ky. took part.

Mr. VAN BUREN presented the memorial of Enrico Causici, sculptor, praying that an additional appropriation may be made, to enable him to proceed to execute, in marble, an allegorical group, for the use of the Senate Chamber, which he has modelled in plaster, under an appropriation heretofore made by Congress for that purpose. Referred to the select committee appointed on the letter from Rembrandt... Continue Reading

The Senate then proceeded to consider the resolutions submitted on Tuesday, by Mr. VAN BUREN, relative to amending the Constitution, on the subject of Roads and Canals.
Mr. VAN BUREN moved to lay them on the table; expressing his intention of calling them up at an early day; which was agreed to.

Mr. VAN BUREN, in expressing his preference, yesterday, for the judicial system proposed by "the gentleman from Virginia," referred to the plan of Mr. TAZEWELL, and not, as was erroneously supposed, to that of Mr. BARBOUR. To the latter he entertained objections of the most decided character. Having misstated Mr. Van Buren's meaning in the particular, we subjoin a fuller report of his remarks on... Continue Reading